Night Of the Demons (1988)
Every town has one of those places that is supposed to be haunted.In “Night Of The Demons” its Hull house, the abandoned funeral home
on the hill. Instead of going to a high school Halloween dance Judy
Cassidy (Cathy Podewell) is convinced by her date to go to a Halloween
party being held at the Hull house. The party is being held by Angela
(played by pet “communicator” and former ZZ Top video girl Amelia
Kinkade) who is described as the weird chick into witch craft and stuff
by the other characters. This doesn’t stop them from going to the Hull
house party and soon we have 10 teens partying away in the empty
building.
Of course the building isn’t empty, Angela announces that it is possessed
by demons who are trapped inside by an underground stream that runs
under the fence around the property. This is taken as fun and games by the
partiers until Angela and Suzanne (Scream Queen favorite Linnea Quigley)
are possessed themselves and begin slaughtering the party goers, who are
then reanimated as demons themselves. This sounds like a lot 80’s high
school parties to me.
“Night Of The Demons” works well on several levels. First off, although
made on a low budget, the film looks good. The special effects are gory,
without being over the top. Look out for an especially creepy effect with
Linnea Quigley and a some lipstick, it’s well done and very surprising.
Quigley and Kinkade are both excellent as the “lead” demons, with Kinkade
showing off her dance talents in a memorable demonic dance scene.
While not a classic like “The Evil Dead” or “Return of the Living Dead”, “Night of the Demons” is a good horror film.
There are plenty of scares and Joe Augustyn, the writer, put together a better story than you might expect
based on the set up of partying teenagers being killed by demons. They even threw in a short wrap-around story involving
a nasty old man who puts razors in apples for trick-or-treaters. Check out “Night of the Demons” on DVD and
look for the extras, they include a 14 minute interview with Scream Queen Linnea Quigley that is well worth the time to watch!
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